Apparatus for festooning cloth



y 25,1933. E. c. RICHARDSON ,9 9,141

APPARATUS FOR FESTOONING CLOTH Filed Q01). 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 w a N N A TTORNE )lluaau y 1933. E. c. RICHARDSON 1,919,747

APPARATUS FOR FESTOONING CLOTH Filed Oct. 14, 1931 2 Shecs-Sheet 2 Fig.3

1 M c. QL'CAJJ EXZ Z By 7 A #1. (mm

A TTORNE i} e- TA WARE Patented July 25, 1933 omce EnGARc. nror'ra nnsolvf or'rarnrrnring eomrnorzou'r, Assrenoaro E. ,1; DU ron'r DE EMOURS si' ooivr'rnivv, or WIL INGTON, EL WARE, A CORPORATION OF DELA- PPARnrUs FOE rnsroomne oLotrH Application filed October '14, 1931; Serial No. 568,692.

inventionrelatesito an apparatus for festooning coated cloth and conveyingfthe festooned cloth through a drying chamber and, more particularly,to such an apparatus adapted, to continuously and automatically form festoons of cloth.

Heretofore, in apparatuses for this pur-" pose it. had been the practice toform festoons ofrcoated cloth by'feeding the cloth "downwardlyacross'a bar carried in an .up-

warddirection 'byan inclined moving chain,

then when a festoon-of-the desired size was formed the bar Was transferred to. a horizontal moving cha n which carried the fes- V tooned cloth through. a, drying chamber. Thisapparatus required a man to place bars on the inclined moving chain andtwo more men to grasp the edges of the cloth formed 111 a festoon as the bar supporting the festoonwas transferred .to the horizontal chain ,in order thatthe festoon would notglose its form'by having the-cloth slip, and alsolto present the coated surfaces ofthe cloth from contacting and sticking together. -Obvious- 1y, such an apparatus left room for im-.

faces of the cloth. v y V J, An object ofthe present invention is to providean apparatus for fest-ooning cloth and conveylng it through a drying chamber that Will be entirelyautomatic and eliminate any danger of the freshly coated, surfaces of the cloth engaging each other; Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description given hereinafter The above objects are accomplished -ac-' cording to the present invention by anapparatus for festooning cloth, which comprises the Combination of a continuous conveyor beltwadapted to travel substantially horizontally"through a. partof its course, said conveyor belt consisting of a pair of spaced parallel flexible elements and spaced cross bars connecting said flexible elements, a feed platepivoted at its upperend above section.

of Fig. 2.

said conveyor belt at a point where the travel of said 'belt is substantially horizontal, the V positionof the feed platewith respectto'the eo1 veyorbe1t being such that the cross bars I oflth'e conveyor belt on: passing underthe feed plate engage same; fora short period and swing the feed plate from aperpe'ndicu lar 'posi tionfupward through mu are in, the direction-of travel of the conveyor belt,

and means for continuously feeding a web of cloth down over the feedplate and between adjacent cross bars on the conveyor belt to form a festoon while, the rearward one of a 'pairof ad3alcentcross bars is in engagement 'Withthe feed plate, thereby preventing contact of the cloth with said rearward, cross bar during formation of the festoon. Ordi-V narily, such apparatus isdisposed in aw dryling chamber since it is usually, the practice to carry out the drying of coated cloth at an elevated temperature, and furthermore, .it is frequently desirable to recover solvents volatilized Ling;

during the drying of the'coat- Referring tothe drawings Fig. 1' is a side elevation of an apparatus embodying the present invention in associaition with conventional varnishing mach1ne,"the drying ehamberbemg shown in Fig. 2 is an enlarged sideelevation of the feed plateand associated structure shown in Fi 1,

Fi 3'is an enlarged transverse section of shown :inxFig. 1'.

joneIoff the cross bars of the conveyor belt Fig; 4 is elevationalong the line" and :forms no part ofthe present'invention. The web of cloth 1 ,is led through the'var-V nishing machine where acoatof varnish, or the like, is'applied, and over the card roll 3 which isthe main drive roll, and guide rolls 4 and 5, carried by the inclined framework 6, through the slot in the drying chamber 8 and over, a second card roll 9,

mounted in the upper part of the drying chamber 8, which card roll 9 continues the pull on the web of cloth 1.

Four shafts 14 are rotatably mounted within the chamber 8, and carry gear wheels 18, only one of each pair of gear wheels being shown in the drawings. The gear wheels 18 carry a conveyor belt comprising a pair of spaced continuous chains 19 connected by spaced cross bars 20. As shown in Fig. 1, the gear wheels 18 are so disposed that the conveyor belt travels substantially horizontally adjacent the top of the drying chamber 8. The conveyor belt is driven by means of one or more of the pairs of gear wheels 18 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. y 7

A feed plate 21 is pivotally mounted in the drying chamber 8 at its upper edgebeneatli the card r0119, the axis of thecard roll 9, the'axis of the pivot of the feed plate 21", and the cross bars-20 of the conveyor belt'beingparallel, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The width of the feed plate 21 is approximately equal to the width of the conveyor belt ('see Fig; 4) andis of such length that in vertical position it clears the cross bars 20 of the conveyor belt beneath. At each side on'the back of the feed plate 21 adjacent its lower edge are mounted toes 22' extendingslightly below the lower edge of the feed plate 21. The length of the toes i'ss'uch that they will extend below the cross bars '20 directly under the feed plate'21 when in Vertical position,but will ride up over the bars'20 as they move along their horizontal path in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 1, the coated cloth'l is fed by card roll 9 down over th'eif'ee d plate 21 and is festooned over successive bars 20 and carried'by the conveyor belt through the chamber 8 and then withdrawn over guide roll 25 and the conventionally shown pull out machine 26. The cloth is finallyrolled up on the roller 27. I

plate 21 and the preceding cross bar.

When the apparatus is in operation the festoons are formed between successive cross bars of the conveyor belt, the cloth being fed down over feed plate '21 between the cross bar in contact with the toes 22 of the The cloth is in this manner kept out of contact with the rearwardcross bar 20 during formation of the festoon. In Fig. 1 a half formed festoon is shown with a cross bar 20 in contact with the toes 22 of the plate 21 causing the plate 21 t0 move in" a small arc to theright. The rate of travel of the conveyor belt and rate of feed ofcloth 1 over plate 21 is adjusted so that as. a festoon of the desired'size is formed, the cross bar in contact with toes 22 of plate 21' passes so farm the right (Fig. '1) that the toes'22 ride up over that cross bar and the feed plate 21 swings back to the left until the toes 22 contact with the succeeding cross bar; formation of the next festoon commences at once. When the festoons reach the other end of the drying chamber, at which point the coated surface of the cloth is'dry, the cloth ispulled out by the pull out machine 26 and rolled up on roller 27.

For the successful operation of this apparatus, it is necessary that the cloth will not slip with respect to the cross bars 20 until it is being pulled out by the pull out machine, at which point any unnecessary friction between the cloth and the cross bar should be avoided. For this reason each cross bar 20 is provided with a surface adapted. to engage and hol'd the cloth onits upperforward face and is substantially smooth elsewhere.

Referring to Figs. 3' and h particularly, each cross bar 20 comprises a tube, usually of steel, on whichis mounted a strip of card cloth 30held in position by pairs of rivets 31 adjacent each end, a hole 32 being provided in the cross bar 20adjacent eachend and on. the opposite side fromthe car-d cloth tofacilitate securing the rivets 31. Asillustrated in F ig. 4, the card cloth 30 does not extend quite to eitherendjof the cross bar 20.- The purpose of this'is to let the toes 22 ride on'the cross-bar 20 itself, rather than on the' card' cloth 30, which would be quickly worn" out. By constructing the cross bars 20 in this manner, the car cloth 30 firmly holds the cloth while the'festoons are being formed and carried through the drying chamber, and does notinterfere 'when'the clothis being pulled out at the end of the drying chamber the portion of crossbar 20in contact with the cloth while it is being pulled out is smooth, thereby avoiding undue'friction.

-Thea'bove description is given to illustrate a specific embodiment of the invention, but the apparatusmay be modified and varied widely without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

This apparatus is automatic throughout, requires no lifting of cross bars from one conveyor. beltto another and eliminates slip ping of the cloth while forming in festoons and the resulting contact of the freshly coated surfaces of the cloth. It will be obiousthat the present apparatus is materially more economical and less troublesome than the apparatus heretofore used for this purpose, both in eliminating manual labor and in eliminating the necessary halting of the machinein order to separate two coated surfaces of the cloth that had inadvertently come in contact with each other.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for festooning cloth, the combination of a continuous conveyor belt adapted to travel substantially horiand not extending on either side to, said flexible elements, al -teed plate pivoted at its upper end .above said conveyor belt at a point where the travel of said belt is sub stantially horizontal, a pair of spaced toes mounted on said feed plate at its lower end and extending below the bottom otsaid teed plate, the position of the feed plate with respect to the conveyor belt being such that the cross bars of the conveyorbelt on passing under the feed plate engage said spaced toes for a short period and swing the feed plate from a perpendicular position upward through a small are in the direction of" travel of the conveyor belt, said toes being spaced so as to engage the cross bars outside the strips of card cloth carried thereby, and

means for feeding a web of cloth down over the feed plate and between an adjacent pair of cross bars of the conveyor belt to form a festoon While the rearward cross bar of said pair is in engagement with the i'eedplate,

thereby preventing contact of the cloth with said rearward cross bar during form-a tion of the festoon. v

2. An apparatus for -testooning cloth com- )risin a dr in chamber, a continuous con- C; CD

veyor belt adapted to travel substantially horizontally through a part 0]": its course disposed in said drying chamber, said conveyor belt comprising a pair of spaced par-i allel flexible elements and spacedcross bars connecting said flexible elements, a strip, or

card cloth being disposed on the forward side of eachof said cross bars intermediate,

and not extending on either side, to said flexible elements, a feed. plate pivoted at its upper end above said conveyor belt at a point where the travel of said belt is substantially horizontal, a pair of spaced toes mounted on said teed plate at its lower end and extending below the bottom of said feed plate, the position of the feed plate with respect to the conveyor belt being such that;

festoon while the rearward cross bar of said pair is in engagement with the feed plate, thereby preventing contact of the cloth with ing said flexible elements, a strip of card engage same for a short period and swing said rearwardlcrossbarduring formation of the festoonQ 3. In an" apparatus for testo'oning cloth, the combinationv of a continuous;conveyor belt adapted to travel substantially horizontally through a part of its course, said coniveyor belt comprising pair oi spaced flexibleelements and spaced cross bars connectcloth being disposed onthe forward side of each of said cross bars, means for feeding a" web of cloth between adjacent crossxbars and over the cross bars to form testoons of the cloth, and means for preventing contact of V the'cloth with the rearward one of adjacent-Q cross. bars while the festoon between said cross bars is being formed, said'm'eans being operated by engagement and disengagement of succeeding cross bars in their travel.

4. In anapparatus tor testo ning cloth, the combination of a continuous conveyor belt adapted to travel substantially horizontally through a part of its course, said conveyor belt comprising a pair of spacediflex- I ible elements and spaced cross "bars connect s ing said flexible elements, a strip. or card cloth being disposed on the forward'side ot each of said cross bars, afeed plate pivoted at its upper end by the said conveyor belt at a point where the travel of said belt is 9 substantially horizontal, the position of the. 7 feed plate with respect to the conveyor belt being such that the crossbar-s of thecoir veyor belt on passin'g'under the feed plate 16 the feed plate from a perpendicular position upward through a small are in the direction of travel of the conveyor belt, and

means for feeding'a web of cloth down over the feed plate and between an adjacentpair of cross bars of the conveyor belt to form I the 'festoon while the rearward cross bar of said pair is in engagement with the feed plate, thereby preventing contact of the cloth with said rearward crossbar during formation of the festoon.

5. In an apparatus for festooning cloth, the combination of a continuous conveyor, belt adapted to travel substantially horizontally through a part of its course, said eonveyor belt comprising a pair of spaced parallel flexible elements and spaced cross bars connecting said flexible elements, a stripoi frictional material being disposed on the forward side of each of'said cross bars intermediate,- and not extending on either side to, said flexible elements, a feed plate-pivoted at its upper end by the said conveyor belt at a point where the travel of said'belt is substantially horizontal, a pair of spacedtoes mountedon said feed'plate atits lower end and extending below the bottom of said feed plate, the position of the feed plate with respect to the conveyor belt being such that the cross bars of the conveyor belt on cloth down overthe feed plate and between an adjacent pair ofcross bars of the conveyor belt to form a festoon While the rear- \VZLIdCIOSS bar of said pair is in engagement with the feed plate, thereby preventing contact of the cloth With said rearward cross bar during formation of the festoon.

EDGAR C. RICHARDSON. 

